Now what to do for the day? If monkeys can accomplish the title, I guessed we could. We'd read that the Beijing zoo would only take an hour and of course we already viewed these creatures at the San Diego or Smithsonian zoos, but we could see the ...
... closer to their original home. We were a little surprised as we were at the zoo between 11:00 and nearly four in the afternoon. Some parts were a little neglected while other parts superb. The pandas were typically panda-cute. It takes an hour to see only the pandas maybe.
We were planning to have dinner at our hotel but they were having some sort of special party in the restuarant area. Therefore, we went to a favourite one across the street. Things were getting late. It was getting close to 7:00 and we had to be at the train station by 8:30. We had to pick up our bags at the hotel and then get on transit. Just getting to the station from the hotel took the better part of 20 minutes. We'd never done the exact ride, so the time was a little unknown.
We did know that we needed to take a taxi from one where we'd exit the subway to Beijing West. Of course train travel is important in this country due to enormous population. I read online somewhere that Beijing West is the longest train station in the world. For what I saw, I have no reason to doubt that claim. We ended up hiring an unofficial taxi, and only being let off about a half mile from the front door. Then once through security and into the well-organized maze of tracks, we ended up boarding the exact car (about a quarter of mile down the track) with about three minutes before the wheels started turning.
We opted for cheap seats rather than a sleeper. What an enormous mistake! I am in car that states it seats 118. We have assigned seats as we booked earlier in the week. However all these folks in the aisle, didn't and don't. There must be twenty between us and the nearest toilet. They have been offered plastic benches for a price, but many are just going to hang on for the next tweleve and a half hours I guess. I can hardly move. I hope I make it without loosing circulation or my mind.
We'll be in Xi'an in the morning.